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| finished art, 2014 |
I am thrilled
to be selected as the 2014 artisan for the Huntsville Festival of the Arts! Each year the Festival board invites a different
artist to produce artwork for use on the brochure and promotional materials. I was excited to create an image that
expressed the spirit of the festival; just the challenge I needed to kick start
the year.
Almost
instantly an impression of the image I wanted to make emerged in my mind’s eye;
a joyful celebration bursting out of the Algonquin Theatre, into the Muskoka
sky. I began experimenting with different
ways to achieve my vision in glass.
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| I shot the theatre for reference |
For colour, I
used mostly crushed glass, called “frit”, in different grit sizes. This allowed
me to blend colours rather than having distinct edges. The heart is cut
glass. I experimented with glass paint to represent the theatre itself,
but settled on cutting it from copper foil to achieve a more distinct, stylized
silhouette. Similarly the trees, representing the landscape surrounding
Huntsville, are cut from copper foil. I used mica powder for the white
lines of the music staff floating up into the night air, and also in the
water. Mica was once mined in Huntsville, and my use of this material was
a deliberate nod to the past.
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| first layer of the design |
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| ready to fire! |
Now that you know a little about what went into this year’s Festival image, I hope you have a chance to catch some of the fantastic performances planned for this summer!
